Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition for producing latex pads, and its preparation method. The present invention further relates to a method for manufacturing latex pads from the composition, and the latex pad products made by the method.
Background
Conventional latex pads are made from a mixture of natural latex and artificial latex at a proportion of 20%:80% by weight. The said natural latex is composed of 40% water and 60% solid content of plastic materials and the said artificial latex is composed of 30% water and 70% solid content of plastic materials. The producing method of conventional latex pad comprises adding a certain dose of vulcanizing promoter, and preparing a latex mixture under a condition of stirring at 1200 revolutions/min (rpm) for 20 minutes.
In the conventional method for producing latex pads, the mixture is poured into a high speed foaming machine, and formed into a foamed material in the foaming procedure. The foamed material is then poured into a coating machine, and infused onto a conveying platform set at a transfer speed of 5 cm/min. The thickness of foamed material spreading on the conveying platform is adjusted by the set transferring condition of the conveying platform. Subsequently, the foamed material is subjected to a first shaping process by transient baking at 250° C. to solidify the surface of the foamed material. The foamed material is transferred to a 150° C. oven to perform a second shaping process before cooling into a latex pad. Finally, the formed latex pad is covered with an isolation paper (membrane) and then rolled into a coil for storage.
The said conventional latex pads are used to provide a vibration suppression function as a buffering material between two objects through their soft and elastic characteristics. For example, latex pads may be used in producing shoe pads and provide soft flexibility, comfort, and buffering capacity during walking.
Additional features may be added to the conventional latex pads by the addition of active carbon or other functional materials. For example, the major problem of adding active carbon in latex pads is that active carbon has excellent moisture absorption property. The natural latex and synthetic latex both are aqueous liquid material, and the moisture content in these materials will be significantly reduced by the incorporation of active carbon, which will cause the latex mixture to solidify quickly in the changed mixture proportion and will become hard to stir in the subsequent processes. Other problems will also be encountered when other functional materials are added in the latex mixture.
Therefore, the content and proportion of components and water in the latex mixture must be calculated precisely, and the operating condition in the subsequent processes should also be adjusted when active carbon and other functional materials are added to the latex mixture.